Andrew: So he saw that you did it, and he talked to you about how to do it

right, or does he automatically say, ‘Hey, I want to invest in you.’

Hardi: He said that he would like to help do it right.

Andrew: OK, then he came in as an investor afterwards.

Hardi: Yes.

Andrew: I’ve met him a few times, he was one of my early interviewees. I

remember once we were talking when we were both on this week in startups,

about where else could his crowd sourcing idea apply, and for some reason

neither one of us though of mechanical engineering. Maybe it’s because we

were both so focused on software and design, our world. Looks like you

found a whole other world to apply some of the ideas to.

Hardi: What I’ve seen, and I’ve found is very disappointing, is people are

thinking that those great iPhones or iPods (I actually have an Android) or

iPads or MacBooks, they’re [recording cuts out] somewhere. Then you can

start coding and using them. But there are a lot of people building

products that are around us. I’m sitting on a chair, and a lot of engineers

put their heart into designing and making sure you can manufacture that

chair. People take those products for granted.

Andrew: We do.

Hardi: In reality there are a lot of people, a very big industry, working

very hard and not really using great tools and are not that [??] so that’s

where our [??] is.

Andrew: All right, I’ve got two other questions to ask you. The first is

about how you bring people in. How do you get mechanical engineers to come

in? They’re not like teeny-boppers; they’re not like teenagers; they’re not

like social media experts who are flitting around, waiting for someone to

create a new community for them to be a part of so that they can chat on

it. They’re serious people with a lot of work to do who aren’t exploring

similar sites to yours. How did you recruit a quarter million of them to be

a part of your community?

Andrew: Sorry, one sec, it looks like our connection just went down for a

moment. And I see you’re smiling, so I feel like I just missed a great part

of the answer. Can you take it again from the top? How did you get them to

be part of your community?

Hardi: The truth is that, yes, they’re not using Twitter. They are on

Facebook, but they don’t really know what social media is. They’re giving

their social media time to GrabCAD, not to Twitter or Facebook. And the

point of this community is that it’s a very tight community. People talk a

lot. And our growth has been all about word of mouth. So we don’t have any

[??] functionality. We don’t have anyone marketing on it, though, to be

honest, we’re just about to hire someone. It’s all about people saying,

“Yeah, I found this on GrabCAD, you should check it out” and then sending

emails to the whole engineering department saying, “You should check it

out.” And people really are Googling great content. So that’s how our user

base came to be. We are one of those lucky companies who have not worked

very hard in order to get a lot of people using our program.

Andrew: Are you in any engineering magazines or blogs? Do you do any of

that? You do.

Hardi: Yeah, we are, people are writing about us.

Andrew: Without you soliciting them and building a relationship to

marketing?

Hardi: Yeah, we’ve been extremely lucky with that. I think one of the

reasons is that we’ve really been focusing on how to create value for the

individual engineer. And because of that, they’ve been sharing some really

great content, and that gets people excited.

Andrew: All right, I want to say something and then I’m going to ask you

that final question. And I think your answer to it is going to be a little

controversial. That’s why I saved it till the end.

Hardi: I have three minutes of battery.

Andrew: Oh, three minutes of battery? All right, so here’s what I’m going

to say. Guys, go to Mixergypremium.com, where we offer courses by real

entrepreneurs who can teach you what they’re especially good at.

Mixergypremium.com. All those courses are yours once you join. All right,

here’s your final question. Your video’s frozen, you’ve got less than three

minutes left, so here it is. You say you have to commit as an entrepreneur

full-time to your business. You can’t do it part-time while you’re doing

something else. Why?

Hardi: Because in order to build a great business and great product, you

have to fully commit to it. Building something new that nobody has ever

done before – it’s not something you can just do part-time. It doesn’t work

like that. It’s hard work, it’s a lot of rethinking and thinking all night,

and you cannot do it by doing two different things at the same time.

Andrew: All right, let’s leave it there before the battery completely dies

out. Hardi of GrabCAD.com, thank you for doing this interview. Everyone

else who’s out there, thank you all for watching. Bye.

Sponsored by

Walker Corporate Law – Scott Edward Walker is the lawyer entrepreneurs turn to when they want to raise money or sell their companies, but if you’re just getting started, his firm will help you launch properly. Watch this video to learn about him.

Grasshopper – Don’t make the mistake of comparing Grasshopper with other phone services. Check out their features and you’ll see why Grasshopper isn’t just a phone number, it’s the virtual phone system that entrepreneurs (like me) love.

Shopify – Remember the interview I did about how the founder of DODOCase sold about $1 mil worth of iPad cases in a few months? He used Shopify. It’s dead simple and very effective. To get a longer free trial, use this code: Mixergy